Clean and sober, Del Bosco back on right track

Chris del Bosco is a Canadian, born and raised in Vail, Colorado, who now competes in ski cross on the Canadian Freestyle Ski Team. He will be racing in the Canada Post freestyle grand prix at Cypress Mountain which runs Feb. 5-7.

Photograph by: Vancouver Sun
, Vancouver Sun

VANCOUVER — From his crouched position in the Olympic start gate, Chris Del Bosco plans to look down the mountain Sunday at the steep and twisted road that led him to the Winter Games.

“If I were on a straight path,” says the soft-spoken Canadian from Vail, Colo. “I wouldn’t be where I am now.”

Five years ago, a passerby just happened to spot Del Bosco unconscious in a frozen creek bed, suffering from near-hypothermia and a broken neck.

The cause? An alcohol-induced blackout.

“I don’t know if I got in a fight or if I just fell,” he says.

He knows the surgical team needed titanium rods and six screws to fuse his C-4-C-5 vertebrae. He knows his body temperature dipped to a dangerous 27.8 C.

With all that knowledge, he still couldn’t put down the bottle. Or the bong.

“I guess I had to get beat up a little bit more to figure it out,” he says. “That would have been enough for most people.”

The battle against substance abuse is waged daily by men and women the world over. The addicted crawl into bed at night with promises of “never again,” only to wake up the next morning and do it all over.

Del Bosco found a way to interrupt the loop, and on Sunday, he stands to write a beautiful story of redemption with Olympic gold waiting at the bottom of the hill at Cypress Mountain.

“I remember how bad it was,” he says. “The reason I talk about it is because people were there to help me and talk about it. Maybe I can help someone out there if they hear my story.

“Even if it looks bleak, there is hope.”

Hope poked through the clouds for Del Bosco in the strangest of settings.

“I was facing some pretty severe consequences with the legal system,” he says. “I was like, ‘If you keep doing this, you’re going to end up in jail for a long time or your going to end up hurting someone or yourself.’”

A judge sentenced Del Bosco to 10 days in jail and ordered him to do more than 100 hours of community service.

He ended up tiling bathrooms for the Salvation Army and checking himself into rehab.

After a few slips along the way, Del Bosco stopped drinking on Sept. 6, 2006. He ditched the marijuana on Jul 10, 2007.

His story is not one of shame. It’s about accepting the facts as they are and moving on accordingly.

“I think some people are wired differently,” he says. “When I start drinking and doing other things, I can’t stop. That took a long time to realize and a lot of severe consequences.

“It’s just something that I can’t do. I realize it doesn’t work for me.”

In his words, Del Bosco can’t drink like normal men and women. But he can attack a mountain with the best of them — especially in the chaotic world of ski cross where competitors rip down icy slopes rocket over jumps and jockey for position in the tightest of quarters.

The first person to the bottom of the hill wins.

“I was born on skis, basically,” he says. “I was one of those people. I didn’t have to do much at all.

“A lot of other people had to work really hard to even stay close.”

That might sound like bragging, but he’s simply stating the truth behind incredible the incredible natural ability he so nearly wasted.

“I was young and talented and screwing off,” he says. “I just thought I was invincible.”

Officials kicked Del Bosco off the U.S. alpine development team at age 17 for smoking pot. Five years later, he lost his U.S. Cycling pro downhill mountain biking title after testing positive for dope.

In 2007, the Canadian ski cross team came calling Turns out his father, Armando, moved to Colorado from Quebec in the 1950s to play university hockey.

So Del Bosco, a dual citizen, signed up for one more chance at Olympic glory.

Spotlights

Chris del Bosco is a Canadian, born and raised in Vail, Colorado, who now competes in ski cross on the Canadian Freestyle Ski Team. He will be racing in the Canada Post freestyle grand prix at Cypress Mountain which runs Feb. 5-7.

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